What are .tpl files? PHP, web design
PhpHtmlSmartyPhp Problem Overview
Someone wants me to redesign a site run in PHP (VideoCMS). But when I asked him to send me the source he has given me *.tpl files instead of *.php. There is some code inside them:
{include file='header.tpl' p="article"}
<br />
<table width="886" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr>
<td width="150" valign="top">
<div id="reg_box">
<h3 class="captions">{$lang.articles}</h3>
<div id="list_cats">
<ul>
{$article_categories}
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<br />
<div id="reg_box">
<h3 class="captions">{$lang.members}</h3>
{if $logged_in == '1'}
{include file='loggedin_body.tpl'}
{else}
{include file='login_body.tpl'}
{/if}
or
{include file='header.tpl' p="index"}
{php} $_SESSION['isFair'] = "Yes"; {/php}
What's the interpreter of the code? How can I redesign this site?
Php Solutions
Solution 1 - Php
That looks like Smarty to me. Smarty is a template parser written in PHP.
You can read up on how to use Smarty in the documentation.
If you can't get access to the CMS's source: To view the templates in your browser, just look at what variables Smarty is using and create a PHP file that populates the used variables with dummy data.
If I remember correctly, once Smarty is set up, you can use:
$smarty->assign('nameofvar', 'some data');
to set the variables.
Solution 2 - Php
Templates. I think that is Smarty syntax.
Solution 3 - Php
.tpl is the extension for Smarty files. It means "template".
Tip: if you are using NetBeans and you want a correct syntax highlighting for those files:
- Go to menu Options → Tools
- Under Miscellaneous, select the Files tab
- Click new file extension, enter tpl.
- In Associated File Type (MIME), select HTML Files (text/html)
- Click OK
Solution 4 - Php
Number 3 hit on Google for "tpl file" (even though it's one of those annoying "Fix TPL errors now", "Scan TPL files with our virus scanner", sell-you-everything-under-the-sun-with-flashy-ugly-ads-when-all-you-wanted-was-the-file-description sites) is:
>Used by PHP web development and PHP web applications as a template file. Mostly used by Smarty template engine. Template is a common text file (like .html file) and contains user defined variables that are replaced by user defined output content when PHP web application parsing a template file.
Solution 5 - Php
The files are using some sort of template engine in which curly braces indicate variables being generated by that templating engine, the files creating such variables must be present elsewhere with the more or less same name as the tpl file name. Here are some of templates engine mostly used.
Smarty
Savant
Tinybutstrong
etc
With smarty being widely used.
Solution 6 - Php
In this specific case it is Smarty, but it could also be Jinja2 templates. They usually also have a .tpl extension.
Solution 7 - Php
Those look like Smarty templates. There should be some additional PHP scripts which actually instantiate the Smarty engine and give it the data it can use for the replaceable elements.
Solution 8 - Php
You have to learn Smarty syntax. That's a template system.
Solution 9 - Php
.tpl shows there is a smarty! Smarty is a template language to split out PHP code from HTML code. Which gives us to the ability to do design stuff on a page which has not included PHP code.
Solution 10 - Php
Other possibilities for .tpl: HTML::SimpleTemplate, example:
Hello $name
, and Template Toolkit, example:
Hello [% world %]!